dbear

We just drove the 400 miles to my parents place in Oakland and I now have a fuel leak which sounds like the common crush washer problem. Could anybody give me some insight as to how stranded I am until this problem is fixed. To give you an idea of the leak...it is coming off the first fuel injector area upon start-up and continues dripping enough that over the first night we were hear after the 400 miles it had started dripping out the plastic oil pan cover/air difuser. It left a decent sized "puddle" in the street.

When I looked at it this a.m. the fuel pump was basically dry and it was impossible to tell where the leak came from until the car was started. Within about 15 seconds the fuel leak is clearly visible.
Is tightening up any of the leak areas a possibility?
Am I stranded until a new fuel pump or crush washers can be installed?
How much am I looking at when I do a new pump or washers etc.?
Thanks, and Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Lightman

send a pm to gilly on mbshop and he'll be able to help you out.

Green E-300 DT

Are you still up North?
If it isn't leaking any worse than you describe, you should be able to make it back down here where things are a trifle less expensive.

I know of an honest and trust-worthy mechanic down here that will only do what is necessary and he is reasonable. Only trouble for you is that he's in the South Bay area, a fur piece from Seal Beach.

Remember, a little fuel goes a long way when spilled on the ground, and if you're only smelling it, and it isn't spraying all over the place, you should be able to drive your car back down South.
I had one injector connection let go on my TDI after I had changed the injectors out, and I had fuel spraying all over the place, and it was literally dripping off of everytning!
If you made it all the way up North without running out of fuel, you should be able to come back to where the repairs can be done more reasonably. What kind of fuel economy did you get going up?

Good luck!

HTHs

dbear

Well, I guess the fuel leak wasnt' so bad after all. We just finished the 7hr 30 min stop and go journey from the east bay to Long Beach. I checked at each stop and it seems as though the leak must only happen prior to full temp operations. We averaged roughly 25 mpg each way (85 plus on the way up...we left at 4 a.m. and 25 on the way down in pretty heavy traffic)
I'm getting in fixed over the next few days if my mechanic is back from his vacation.

husk323

I took my car in three times for similar fuel like as described in this thread. In January the car started leaking from the switch over valve at the injection pump, I took it in 3 times it just kept leaking. Last week it started to leak again I took it back into House Of Imports, and they said that it was leaking from the switch over valve but a different one, another 700 bucks for the repairs. It seems like its fixed, spent close to 1200 dollars on this leak. I feel that I got cheated by the dealer, even if its leaking from the same part they wont replace it under warranty they will tell you its leaking from a different o-ring. This is the last Mercedes I will EVER own, the 7 year 70,000 mile emission warranty is a joke, my turbo vacuum line became clogged a couple months ago the check engine light came on, clearly it says in the Warranty Booklet that the turbocharger plus all related hardware, clamps, pulleys, hoses that are related to the turbo are covered by warranty, yet they told me that it is not covered and charge me another 800 dollars. I am getting sick of this car, not 1/50th the car of my 82 w123 diesel.